State #10 - Arizona - US Open - Part 2 - Chess Games

My play during the US Open was only average to above average.  I lost the two games I played to higher rated players, & lost in Round 1.  I finished with 5.5 points out of 9 rounds.  Had I drawn the first game & reached 6 points in some way, I would have won $658 +/-.  Had I won the first round & somehow finished with 6.5 points, I would have won $2200 +/-.  (Depending on the percent payout of the prize fund.)

2015 US Open Full Results

I used a MonRoi supplied by the TD staff for the first time against the two higher rated players.  It was interesting because there was extra pressure knowing my friends & family here at home could follow the action in those two rounds if they so desired.

If you click on this US Open Games by MonRoi link, do a search for Chen in Rounds 4 & 6.  In Round 4, I made a blunder on the 16th move which eventually lost me a Rook.  In Round 6, my opponent's heavy pressure was just too much for me to handle.

Below is a snapshot of the first round.  I've wanted to play the Schliemann variation for a while, but never had the chance to do so.  I think if I had played 9...f4, I might have had something on the kingside, but it wasn't fully concrete.  The best chance was to simply trade the light Bishops (11...Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Nd4) & try to establish the remaining knight.  I opted to try the kingside attack, but it wasn't really there.

This last game is from Round 8, after I correctly guessed that chances at the money disappeared after the Round 7 draw.  I avoided the Nimzo-Indian & dared my opponent to trade dark Bishops.  It seemed like he mixed up concepts between fianchettoing the Queen Bishop & playing for ...c5.  After the trade of pawns on d5, it seemed like I could eventually play Knight vs. Bishop.

Still, even with the disappointing first round, it wasn't a bad tournament overall.  My next chance is in two days at the NJ Open, where 9 GMs head a strong Open section - I might end up playing 1 of them in an early round!